In California, dozens of horses perish in fires

Agence France-Presse

A horse which was left behind after an early-morning Creek Fire that broke out in the Kagel Canyon area in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles, is seen in Sylmar, California, U.S., December 5, 2017. Reuters

BONSALL - A line of charred stables running down blackened hills have become graveyards for dozens of horses caught in the raging flames of a southern California wildfire that burned them alive.

"It was hell," said a security employee at the San Luis Rey Training Center in Bonsall, an hour north of San Diego. It was "The worst night of my life."

The employee, who asked not to be identified by name, said that 75 percent of the stables burned at the center, where some 500 elite horses were stabled and trained.

"They're the most highly bred," and in "several barns here the cheapest horse is $250,000."

Seeing the blaze approaching at high speed, they decided to release the horses to give them a chance to escape.

As the air clogged with smoke the terrified horses neighed and galloped in circles, lost.

"I was kicked; trampled," the employee said of the rescue efforts, describing how the horses clamored to get back to their stables.

"It's their safety zone," he said. "We had to run them off but they saw the others get in, they're herd animals."

San Diego County, which includes Bonsall, is horse country, dotted with vast, opulent ranches in a landscape that evokes Tuscany with palm trees.

But these desert trees, which line the roads of the region, turned into torches overnight into Friday morning, as fire driven by winds gusting upwards of 80 miles (130 kilometers) per hour swallowed whole hills in minutes.

Thousands of firefighters are still battling six major wildfires in California that have destroyed hundreds of structures and devastated tens of thousands of acres of land.